Our Winter Season at Blue Mountain

This was our first winter season skiing with the kids. We decided that if we were going to commit the funds to this expensive sport, then we would make the most of it and get our monies worth! And we did. The kids participate in the 9 week ski lessons and we also went one other day each week. We spent 2 nights there over the Family Day holiday and while Heinrich was demolishing our kitchen (more on that later), I took the kids and Phoebe for 5 days. All in all, we had 20 days of amazing skiing. Definitely worth the investment and what a great way to pass the grey winter days. 

Winter swimming at Aqua Plunge in the Village.

Our hotel where we stayed - the Westin. They permit dogs which is fantastic.

Phoebe enjoyed the fireplace in the hotel lobby!

 After a long day of skiing!

At the top of Sunrise.

Rusty's patio on the March break.

The Heavenly Dog Bed.

Enjoying Beaver Tails at the top of the mountain.

Mason being his normal goofy self.

Over looking the skating pond.

Mickey's 8th Birthday

Mickey had a puppy themed party this year since we had a new addition to our household. With her birthday being just after Christmas it's sometimes tricky to plan. The kids got to play with Phoebe, make collars for their toy puppies, design a dog house, and played in the snow. The party was a huge success! 

Halloween 2012

Post Catch Up

The other day I was frantically searching for some missing photos and had the chance to scan through my blog. This blog is so precious to me as it chronicles the kids and our homeschooling experiences. Although I don't have a ton of time to spend on the written portion of the posts, I do my best and it essentially acts as my personal journal.

I seem to have neglected my blog in 2012 - probably during the time when my mom was ill. I've decided to do some catch up. These posts are mainly for my records but perhaps you'll enjoy them too!

Co-op update: Tuesday March 19, 2013

Welcome back everyone! Hope you had a great March Break. We loved hearing about everyone's adventures over the holidays.

We started the day with a brainstorming session. The kids had to come up with different was of saying "I said," in a writing piece. This challenge was met with silence at first! I gave them a couple and then slowly the wheels started turning! 

Next we did the Peanut Butter Sandwich challenge. This is always fun. The kids had to do instructional writing. They had to individually write the instructions for making a peanut butter sandwich. The intended audience (or sandwich maker) is an alien. I chose three and followed their instructions (exactly) and made their sandwiches! This was lots of fun. We made note of what language was successful, what wasn't, and perhaps details that could have been added!

Break time for some fun in the snow (that won't go away!).

After break we read about Quebec and had some great discussions about the significance of the St. Lawrence and what would happen if Quebec separated. The kids who have been to Quebec were able to recount their experiences to us.

I divided the kids into two groups. One group worked on freehand drawing a map of Quebec while the other group worked with me on drawing triangles. We made it through; right angle triangles, isosceles triangles, and scalene triangles. Protractor use is still fairly new to them but most seem to be catching on.

Lunch and more outside time.

After lunch we read two more chapters of BFG (almost done). We continued our work on our lapbooks.

 

We started an art project but cut it short because we had some chicks (1 day old) come to visit. The kids were thrilled!

Phoebe did really well with the kids. She's going to be tired tonight!

After Easter we will start studying Medieval Times. We will also be doing a book study on "The False Prince." I have copies for each child and it would help if some of the reading could be done at home. Let me know if this is a problem. Also, a lot of the kids are interested in creating a model of 'something' medieval. If you're opposed to this, again, let me know! Thanks for a great day!

Update: Tuesday Feb. 26, 2013

Sorry folks for the late posting. I completely forgot. It will be a quick one.

1) Played a quick game of Duple. We simplified the game but kept the idea the same. Turn over two cards, and the first person to come up with a 5-letter minimum word, wins the cards. It's a fast paced game but good for vocab and spelling practice.

2) Homonym practice

3) Worked on some stained glass style art. They were focused on this project for at least an hour. Some needed to finish theirs.

4) Lots of fort building time outside! Had to take advantage of the snow and milder temperatures!

Lunch

5) Divided the kids into two groups.

Group 1: Researched Ontario animals and classified them as carnivores, herbivores and omnivores.

Group 2: Gave the kids a lesson on protractors and we practised measuring acute angles and then obtuse angles. No problem!

6) After lunch we looked at the radar map and watched the incoming snow storm. The kids came up with hypotheses as to why the radar map was showing the weather changing from rain to snow in certain areas.

7) BFG reading.

8) More time outside!